HONOLULU — No one was taking this one away from JoVon McClanahan and Hawaii.
McClanahan’s pull-up shot from 25 feet found the net with under a second left as the Rainbow Warriors completed an improbable rally to stun Southern Methodist, 58-57, for the program’s first Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic championship on Sunday.
A Christmas crowd of 3,331 at SimpliFi Arena roared in jubilation and teammates mobbed the 5-foot-10 junior guard, who got it up between two much taller defenders and was fouled on the play.
After the court was cleared and 0.9 seconds were added to the clock, he missed the free throw for the four-point play and SMU called timeout, with 0.6 remaining. After what seemed an eternity, SMU inbounded and Zhuric Phelps’ three-quarter-court heave was off the mark. The celebration was on for real.
Coach Eran Ganot was hoisted by his players, fans mingled on the Stan Sheriff Center floor, and media members scrambled. UH (9-3) heads into Big West play with its first trophy in the 13th year of its nationally televised holiday tournament. It was even the first time UH was in the title game of the eight-team event.
“That’s gotta be one of the biggest shots in our program’s history. I think that’s one of the biggest shots you’ll see,” Ganot said, “if you put all that into context — ESPN, Christmas Day, two good teams fighting like they had.”
McClanahan, who had a game-winning 3 wiped off due to an official’s whistle in a similarly low-scoring game against Texas A&M Commerce on Nov. 30, was exultant. He, like most of his teammates and media members, thought the game was initially over on his shot, which fell through the net as time expired.
After the chaos — which included some congratulatory words courtside from his father, his former youth coach — he got to raise the wooden paddle at center court as the Most Outstanding Player as the "MVP" chants commenced from the rest of the team.
“It was a crazy play, crazy game, crazy tournament,” McClanahan said. “I’m glad we showed that we’re not just here to attend the Diamond Head Classic. We were here to win it.”
McClanahan enjoyed his two best scoring games as a Rainbow Warrior in UH’s first two tournament wins over Pepperdine and Washington State. But Sunday was a struggle from both the field and with fouls that forced him to the bench.
SMU (5-8), which was on the cusp of becoming the first team with a losing record to win the event, outplayed UH for most of the first half; the Rainbow Warriors struggled against a bigger, active team and trailed 31-22 at halftime.
Backup point guards Justus Jackson, and especially freshman walk-on Kody Williams saw extensive first-half action as McClanahan sat with two fouls. The 'Bows were discombobulated.
In the end, none of that mattered. SMU players walked off in a daze, some wearing smiles of disbelief. Others, like top scorer Phelps, held their hands on their head.
Center Bernardo da Silva scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half to help UH rally from a 12-point hole. Forward Beon Riley came off the bench to match his career high with 13 points and freshman center Mor Seck again was a sparkplug with a season-high nine points, six boards and two blocked shots.
UH shot 15-for-27 in the second half (55.6%) after converting just 24% before intermission.
"We were able to take a deep breath, come back and be able to keep chipping away," da Silva said. "Sometimes it's going to be hard. Sometimes it's going to be ugly. We just kept on believing. That's all, man."
Guard Noel Coleman, who didn’t score until he swooped in for a layup with 7:43 left in the game, finished with nine huge points and was named to the all-tournament team.
UH seemingly cost itself the game with two ill-timed turnovers in the last 30 seconds, only to have SMU miss two even more costly front ends of 1-and-1 free throws. Coleman dribbled the ball off his foot making a move along the baseline and, after UH took a foul, Samuta Avea turned it over after grabbing the rebound on Phelps. Samuell Williamson missed the next 1-and-1 and UH called timeout, with 4.8 seconds left.
McClanahan took the inbounds pass, weaved upcourt with five dribbles and pulled up to enter UH lore.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.